Belmont shocks No. 12 North Carolina

Nov 18, 2013 - 3:41 AM
Chapel Hill, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - J.J. Mann had 28 points and nine
rebounds as the Belmont Bruins pulled off an 83-80 upset over the No. 12 North
Carolina Tar Heels in the first-ever matchup between the teams in the Hall of
Fame Tipoff tournament.

With three minutes left and trailing 75-67, the Bruins knocked down four
three-pointers -- with Mann hitting the final three -- to guide them to
an 81-80 lead with 14 seconds left.

"J.J. is a great shooter. He's a great shooter," Belmont head coach Rick Byrd
said. "I'm telling you, I'm stupid enough to let him shoot all year long just
because I've seen him make so many shots."

After North Carolina's J.P. Tokoto missed a jumper, Belmont's Caleb Chowbay
sealed the win with a layup.

"I did a poor job coaching. It's on me. I've always had the philosophy that if
the other team scores to take the lead and there's more than seven seconds, we
don't call a timeout - we attack right then - because we've got the ball in
the open court," said North Carolina head coach Roy Williams. "I wanted Marcus
(Paige )to go get the ball but I haven't practiced it enough. We didn't
execute at that point and that's my fault."

Drew Windler added 16 points for the Bruins (3-1), who overcame a 16-point
halftime deficit to defeat Indiana State, 96-95, on Thursday. This was the
Bruins' first-ever win against an ACC team.

James Michael McAdoo scored 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Tar
Heels (2-1), who had a streak of 82 straight home victories against unranked
teams outside of the ACC -- a run that dated back to Feb. 20, 2002 -- snapped
on Sunday.

Marcus Paige had 17 points and five assists for UNC and Brice Johnson had
14 points and nine rebounds

Belmont held a 41-34 halftime lead and stretched it to as many as 11 points
with 15 minutes remaining in the game. UNC then went on a 14-0 run, capped by
a Johnson jumper, to take a 55-48 lead with 13:37 left. It was the Tar Heels'
first advantage since 5:20 to go in the first half.

Belmont showed no signs of being intimidated by the Tar Heels. The teams
traded the lead nine times, the last coming when Mann buried a 3-pointer for a
30-28 edge with 5:13 left in the first half. Belmont ended the period with a
Windler triple that gave the Bruins a seven-point lead at the break.

Game Notes

Belmont was 15-for-37 from beyond the arc, while UNC was only 2-for-7 ...
Belmont shot 90.9 percent (20-of-22) from the charity stripe as opposed to
UNC's 45.8 percentage (22-of-48) ... Tokoto scored eight points and had nine
rebounds ... The Bruins' Reece Chamberlain scored nine points and had six
assists ... The Bruins had lost 17 straight against ranked opponents,
Belmont's last win over a Top 25 team was a 71-67 victory at No. 23 Missouri
on Dec. 20, 2003 ... Belmont's Rick Byrd and UNC's Roy Williams are two of the
winningest active coaches, with a combined 1,368 career wins.